My parent application (supra) discloses an extensible loading bridge comprised of telescoping tunnel sections which extend from a passenger terminal to a parked aircraft, and on which bridge is an extensible flexible carrier which accommodates flexible supply and return hoses which connect a source of hot or cold liquid at the terminal to a heat exchanger on the outboard end of the bridge. Hot or cold liquid, such as water or a mixture of water and glycol is fed through the supply hose and hot or cold air is blown from the heat exchanger to the aircraft. Other utility conduits such as electric power cables and communication lines are also housed in the carrier. The outer end of the flexible carrier terminates in a loop housed in an elongate hollow casing which extends lengthwise over the outermost tunnel section, the loop varying in length as the bridge extends or retracts, i.e.; when the bridge is extended the loop is short, and when the bridge is retracted the loop becomes long. The original embodiment of the invention provided the slack as needed for varying lengths of the bridge, but under certain conditions lengthwise opposing compression forces developed between opposite ends of the carrier which forces tend to cause the carrier to hump or buckle. The improvement provided by this invention is a means for maintaining the flexible carrier and the conduits housed therein under tension so that it cannot hump or buckle.